Interference-colored finishes for automotive aluminum alloys

The purpose of this research was to develop and understand interference-coloring technology for anodized aluminum alloys. The deposited metal salt in the porous anodic coating can cause optical interference effects and produce colors ranging from blue, green, yellow, red and various other shades. The processes for producing these colors are still mainly in the R&D stage because they are complicated and can only be consistently produced through a sophisticated programmable rectifier and under well-controlled experimental conditions. in this paper, the interference colors as function of metal deposition height are clearly demonstrated through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) study.